Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Spring Song

This 10 second video is of a Curve-Billed Thrasher singing what sounds like a mating call. It’s not the usual loud “weee-weet-tweet” that we hear during other times of the year. Could it be that we’re getting an early spring about four weeks ahead of schedule? The forecast for our part of Arizona calls for 80° temperatures by the weekend.

AS you can see from the video, holding the camera steady at 250mm zoom is difficult without a bi- or tripod. I made this video today with my Canon EOS Rebel SL3 and the EF 55-250mm lens. I am still experimenting with and getting used to making videos with the Canon camera.

19 Feb 2025 by Arizona Critters Notions Photography Technobabble 2

Lincoln’s Birthday

Today, we celebrate the 216th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s birth. He was only 56 at the time of his death at the hands of an assassin. His memory lingers, however, and despite having his birthday celebration clumped in with other, lesser presidents on President’s Day, many of us still honor him as one of the greatest presidents.

The Formative Years Lincoln Penny (pictured above) shows Lincoln’s familiar portrait on the “heads” side of the coin, and the young Lincoln sitting on a log reading on the “tails” side. The 2009 Formative Years Lincoln cent design represents Lincoln’s life, when he was a rail splitter, from 1816-1830 in Indiana. This is the second of four different reverse designs issued in 2009 for the Lincoln cent coin on the bicentennial of his birth. Now that minting of pennies is to be discontinued, the collectors’ value of these coins will doubtlessly climb.

Click on the penny image to enlarge.

12 Feb 2025 by Holidays 0

Finches

This is a photo of one of the Nyjer Seed feeders in the back yard intended to attract Finches. You can see it was doing its job this morning when I snapped the photo.

On the left side of the feeder (stage right) is a House Finch, the male of the species. House Finches are commonly seen throughout the U.S. and Mexico, with some excursions north of the U.S. border.

The smaller Lesser Goldfinches are seen on the right and bottom of the feeder. This variety of Goldfinch ranges across much of the Southwest U.S. and Mexico. They seem to be permanent residents here in the Sonoran Deserts of Arizona.

Both species of finch like to snack on the Nyjer seeds. The oily content of the seeds seems to be nutritious for the birds. We buy Nyjer seeds for the Finches and a mixed seed variety for the other birds that hang out here. Nyjer is quite a bit more expensive than the other seed mixes, but we think it is worth the investment in order to keep the finches coming around.

Click on the image to enlarge in the viewer.

10 Feb 2025 by Arizona Critters Photography 4

Canon Powershot
  A710-IS Retirement

After almost 18 years, I’m finally retiring my Canon Powershot A710-IS Camera. This venerable little photo workhorse has served me for all these years as a pocket-sized take-along camera as well as being available at my office desk for impromptu photo needs in the house.

The A710-IS is actually a very sophisticated little camera with features such as 6x optical zoom, image stabilization and a host of modes and other features. Frankly, it has survived other small cameras, which have come and gone, that I tried out in the past. One feature I liked is an optical viewfinder, which is largely unavailable among pocket-sized units these days.

The camera is being retired for a couple of reasons – 1) it had fallen into disuse since I carry my phone/camera most of the time and use it for those occasions where I may have used the little Canon. 2) I took it up on the hill where the birdfeeders are located and attempted to photograph a squirrel up there, but got an overexposed image.

I will miss the little camera which has already been in the Canon Museum of Retired Cameras and Accessories for a long time now. It’s now in the little box where electrical and other disposables repose until the next free dump day sponsored by the Town of Wickenburg.

07 Feb 2025 by Nostalgia Photography 4

Revival of the Compost Bin

In the post on Imbolc Weekend, I mentioned that our compost bin needed rejuvenation by virtue of a new bag of worms. I ordered 500 wrigglers from Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm at that time; today, the worms arrived and I followed the recommended instructions to introduce them to the heap within the bin. I assume that they are happily getting busy with their program of converting our compost items into vermicast.

When we replaced our old compost bin with this one, I predicted that it, also, wouldn’t last very long in Arizona, like it’s predecessor, but it has hung in there for nearly 10 years now. Here’s a photo of the bin then and now:

As you can see, the lid is a little warped and needs to be secured with a bungee, but the ol’ bin is still doing its job of keeping the compost heap, worms, castings and soil contained within.

05 Feb 2025 by Arizona Environment Home & Garden 0

Imbolc Weekend

Imbolc, also called Saint Brigid’s Day, is a Gaelic traditional festival. It marks the beginning of spring, and for Christians it is the feast day of Saint Brigid. It is held in early February, which is about halfway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox (i.e. Cross-Quarter Day). Our ancestors (both of us) are western Europeans, many of whom were Celtic, Scottish or Irish. The actual day for Imbolc will be on the 3rd of February, but we’re going to start celebrating early by enjoying a weekend full of Celtic-like feasting.

First off, on Friday 01/31 we’re having Irish Beef Stew and Soda Bread. Then, on Saturday, it will be Irish Braised Chicken and Irish Coffee. On Sunday, it will be Corned Beef and Cabbage. I will come back to this post and put in links to the dishes we are preparing.

Compost Heap

In other developments, we seem to have lost our vermicomposting worms; they were in our outdoor compost bin behind the garage doing their thing, but when checking on them (which I apparently need to do more of), it did not appear that there were any active worms. So, just a while ago, I ordered 500 composting worms from Uncle Jim. They should be here in a few days.

One theory of why the worms are gone is that during our 2024 late summer and early fall, the daytime temperatures were usually in excess of 100°F. Since worms cannot survive in soil temperatures that exceed 85°F., we think that the increased soil temperatures might have done them in.

So, when the worms show up, we will stir up the compost heap and welcome them to their new digs. More on that later.

31 Jan 2025 by Culture Food & Dining Notions 0

Cardinalis Cardinalis

I took my Canon EOS Rebel SL3 camera with me on my morning walk, when this Cardinal lit atop the anti-squirrel cone on the bird feeder crook. Zoom lens set to 250mm in the camera’s “program” mode, which is the setting for automatically adjusting aperture, shutter speed and ISO speed. Clickable image.

It is a nice, sunny morning here with temperatures in the 50s F. The forecast is for possible rain over night and for the next few days. We need it.

UPDATE: [02/05/25] In the interest of being fair and balanced, I took an image of the Female of the Cardinalis species in a mesquite tree out back near the birdfeeders. Click to open the image viewer.

26 Jan 2025 by Arizona Critters Environment Home & Garden Notions Photography 2

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